John Hoole

(1727-1803)

John Hoole, translator of Tasso and abridger of Ariosto, attended a Hertfordshire school kept by James Bennett and worked as a watchmaker in his father's shop before becoming a clerk in the East India Company at the age of seventeen. He married a Quaker and adopted Quaker ways. Hoole was a close friend of Samuel Johnson and the Quaker poet, John Scott of Amwell. His translations of Tasso and Ariosto, though reviled by critics, introduced many romantic readers to Italian poetry and were long reprinted. Charles Lamb, who later worked at the East India Company, was not impressed with him.

A monody to the memory of Mrs Margaret Woffington. 1760.Jerusalem delivered: an heroic poem translated from the Italian. 2 vols, 1763.The works of Metastasio, translated from the Italian. 2 vols, 1767.Cyrus; a tragedy. 1768.Timanthes: a tragedy. 1770.Cleonice, princess of Bithynia; a tragedy. 1775.Orlando Furioso, translated into English verse. 5 vols, 1783.Rinaldo: a poem in 12 books [from Tasso]. 1792.Anecdotes respecting the life of the late Mr. John Hoole ... to which are added some pieces ... never before printed, ed. Samuel Hoole. 1803.